Medical Pot Ruling Suspended for a Year

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has given Health Canada one year to respond to his ruling that it is unconstitutional to restrict medical marijuana patients to just using dried pot.

Justice Robert Johnston also ruled on Friday that the suspension of his declaration for a year would not affect people authorized to use medical marijuana under Health Canada’s Marihuana Medical Access Regulations.

On April 12, Johnston ruled that people authorized to use medical marijuana could make cannabis-infused oils, drink it in tea or bake it brownies and cookies, in addition to smoking it.

Health Canada applied to the court asking for a year to respond to the ruling. “While it may seen like a simple ruling, it has anything but simple impacts, and the government needs some time to figure out how to most appropriately respond,” said federal prosecutor Peter Eccles.

Designated producers are in the same legal position they were in prior to the ruling, Eccles said, and are not allowed to make secondary products. “Sometime in the next year, this will get resolved in a legislative response,” he said.